To what degree are people willing to make their health public?

Having the proper support and care during either a health care crisis or to support lifestyle changes to affect better health is critical to a successful outcome. Unfortunately, when health insurance companies can deny care for people with preexisting conditions and much of the our health care system is not designed to build the trust and incentives necessary for people to be willing to make their health care information more public, it simple won't happen. Incentives for patients to make their information public will help, and probably be necessary but ultimately the culture of mistrust has to change. Everyone including insurance companies would gain by building the public trust and creating a safe and efficient environment for sharing health care data. I look forward to that day.

The three primary issues or disincentives I see are: Embarrassment: Patients might fear social ridicule for diseases like cervical cancer, herpes or AIDS. Penalization by insurance companies: Unless there is no way of avoiding it being priced in, patients might fear higher insurance rates if it's known that they are at risk for eating disorders, cancer, etc. I don't see this changing unless there is some sort of guaranteed affordable health care for people in the U.S. If it's a terminal illness, people might want privacy to deal with issues around mortality. Other than that, if it's not embarrassing or something that there is absolutely no way to prevent insurance companies from pricing in, maybe people would find comfort or encouragement by being known to a community. Conditions where a daily regimen is needed might be most conducive for this like diabetes.